That's a pretty excellent lineup of connectivity - everything is catered for as far as what you would need on an HTPC system, very good work by abit again.

BIOS

The BIOS on the F-I90HD is a pretty basic affair. Based on the Phoenix AwardBIOS, it is a stripped down version of many abit BIOS we have seen before, with a few additions for the onboard GPU.

I really like the Phoenix AwardBIOS and find it easy to get around in general, so top marks for this to abit.

The overclocking options are put in the "Softmenu" in the BIOS, rather than abit's usual excellent µGuru menu. It is much stripped down, but there is still a small amount there for an avid overclocker to work on.

CPU voltage goes up to 1.650v which is a good range. DDR2 doesn't get quite as much adjustment range with only 2.5v being the highest. Still this should mean that even the highest performance RAM should run fine at stock. NorthBridge voltage adjustments only go to 2.088v so there's not a whole lot for the hardcore clocker.

The basic memory timings are catered for in the BIOS with full adjustment. Some graphics adjustment is also there for you to play with.

The IO spec on the board is pretty awesome and the BIOS isn't as bad as one would have thought for a cheap board. Overall pretty nice work by abit.

I'm sure they'd probably make more money marketing it as a HTPC product. Without the fatality branding it'd probably be cheaper and the 690G with HDMI just seems like the perfect HTPC board. Ah well, I'm sure there are some very well paid people in the workd making these kind of desisions.

Can i request something in the review. What screen res does it go up to. Reason being is that I have an older abit board here that i cant remember and I cant get the full 1440 * 900 even with latest drivers, think its purely a spec issue

edit: something else that was on my mind... is tekheads part of OC3D? i wasn't sure because i couldnt see an area to buy parts on OC3D and tekheads seems to have the same logo, also the tech support forums

Great review Kemp and not too bad a performer either considering the onboard graphics...very respectable. But why oh why do abit insist on always putting their floppy connector at the bottom of the board? It drives me nuts! Admittedly, it is a smaller board but it just seems far too easy to place it there.

Great review Kemp and not too bad a performer either considering the onboard graphics...very respectable. But why oh why do abit insist on always putting their floppy connector at the bottom of the board? It drives me nuts! Admittedly, it is a smaller board but it just seems far too easy to place it there.

Well at least it's at the edge of the board

Get with the times Peevs, no-one uses floppy's any more I never thought I'd say this but I haven't plugged in a floppy for about a year

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='"duktayp"'

something else that was on my mind... is tekheads part of OC3D? i wasn't sure because i couldnt see an area to buy parts on OC3D and tekheads seems to have the same logo, also the tech support forums

No we are not Tekheads at all, but we do host their support forums here.

@BUFF quite agreed - I think he puts his name to anything that looks like it will be profitable

Granted it is at the edge of the board, and I haven't used a floppy either for probably longer. Virtual floppy and Nlite ftw for RAID drivers! Imo it's time to retire the floppy connector period, but great review anyway mate.

in future NICs and sound cards will be pci e x1 in fact there is an XF-i that is x1 pci e

I feel there maybe a new slot out b4 these slots get that popular.

Excellent review again Kemp, would liked to have seen the I/O section with it`s backplate on, wondering also if they`d stuck with a regular plain silver effect or they`d added some HTPC lettering/symbols above the ports and perhaps `fancied` it up a bit.

Have u tried the HDMI->DVI lead in anything else ? I`m thinking u can get a HDMI lead for an XBox 360 possibly ?

I tested it at 1920 x 1080 out to the DVI port of the Dell 2405 FPW and it worked fine. I don't have a high-def TV with 1080p at this time and indeed the board doesn't support 1080p. I don't see why 720p is "so little in our days" as most HDTV's are 720p. In fact if you're a high-def aficionado you will know that 1080i looks almost exactly the same picture quality as 720p

Remember first and formost it IS a motherboard and as such we have to do tests based around that.

However I appreciate the feedback and will look to see what tests we can carry out aside from the movie playback etc that we have done in this review.

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